Duct tape treatment for warts?

[TrixieB]

If you have tried the duct tape treatment for warts, and it worked, how long did it take?

 

I have a few on one leg and I just started covering them with little squares of duct tape a few days ago -- it's long pants weather now and I didn't want to walk around all summer in shorts displaying my little silver badges.

 

Please tell me it really works, and it doesn't take long.  Or tell me the truth :) .

[swellmomma]

I have done it, and it worked but it took a couple weeks.  I used it for plantar warts on the kids.

[gardenmom5]

we've tried it.  I don't remember how successful it was.  Usually we've just done the cryofreeze, because that usually works on the first treatment.  you can buy diy kits at drug stores.

 

This came up recently in a conversation with 2dd - she commented most treatments for warts are about irritating them so the body's immune system will pay attention to them, and do something about the virus that causes them.

[J-rap]

I had one on my hand some years back, and I did try the duct tape, and it DID work! I can't remember how long it took, sorry! Maybe under a month? I was very diligent about it.

 

My daughter had some on her legs though, and they were much smaller and spread rapidly. Duct tape wouldn't have worked for her, as there were far too many and fast spreading. She had to be treated at the clinic about once every two weeks or so, for about four months.

[gardenmom5]

oh- salicylic acid 'patches' cut to size and taped on seemed to have been faster.

[kbutton]

It worked faster for one of my children than the other, but I think it's because one wart was more exposed, and the tape stayed on better with that wart. You might need to be sure you get a kind of tape that sticks really well as some are fairly cheap.

[dbmamaz]

it worked for my son - might have been close to a month like pp said, or even two?  i think we scraped it once or twice a week, too?  

 

i've since seen studies that refute it, tho . . . but we'd tried OTC medicine before with no luck

[SorrelZG]

Is the duct tape method painless? I usually do the vinegar soaked cotton under a bandaid but that hurts so badly that I'm never consistent with it long enough to fully kill the thing and the wart keeps growing back and I start the torment all over again.

[kewb]

I have used it numerous times on my kids plantar warts (why they just don't wear their flip flops at swim practice is beyond me).  It normally takes a few weeks.  Once I caught one early and it only took a week.

 

At night I place a small piece of banana peel on the wart and cover well with duct tape so no air gets in.  I alternate that with some apple cider vinegar soaked cotton.  During the day I keep it covered with plain duct tape because the kids complain if it is lumpy when they walk.

[wapiti]

I use Grapefruit Seed Extract under a bandaid.  I never, never seem to be able to get duct tape to stick to my kids' feet (without anything under it)!  Ds has one right now on the inside of his little toe and it's taking weeks because he'll only wear something on it at night.  But, daily I see little parts turning black.  It is shrinking slowly but surely.  I like tea tree oil too for this purpose but it's so smelly, whereas the GSE is odorless (and painless).

[mathnerd]

Salicylic acid patch + a very good quality sports tape to bind it in place. That is the only thing that worked for my son's plantar warts on his feet. Duct tape just fell off quickly.

[Parrothead]

Nope, didn't work for me.  I wore that duct tape around my toe for months and it didn't do anything.

[Mabeline]

It worked for my son' plantar wart. I think I only applied it twice. I kept forgetting about it. Then a few weeks later he told me it fell off and it didn't even hurt.

[TrixieB]

Thanks everybody.  It sounds like I have a good chance of the duct tape working, but I'll have to be patient.

 

I did get one of the warts frozen off before, but it came back.  I think this happened to the same wart twice.  Anyway, it was years ago, so these might well be stubborn warts. If the duct tape doesn't work I'll try the salicylic acid patch or tea tree oil or banana peel... lots of options!

[WagsWife]

Years ago, I had warts on every single finger and one on the bottom of my foot.  I had heard about the duct tape method so I tried it.  I could not get the duct tape to stay on the bottom of my foot, so I did not treat that wart.  I cut duct tape and placed it on each wart, and then used bandaids to cover the tape.  Every night, I would take the old off, and replace it with fresh tape/bandaid.  On Friday morning I would take it all off, and leave it off for the day.  Friday night I would use a disposable emery board to gently file down the skin on each wart.  I would file as much as I could without it hurting, and then I would put fresh tape/bandaids on, and start all over again.  It took about a month, but one night they were all there...and literally the next night, every single one was gone.  No sign of them at all...including the wart on my foot that I had not been treating.  I was amazed.  I have not had a wart since (not sure if it had to do with the duct tape or if I have just been lucky.)  I am not sure how this method will work on areas where it is hard to keep the duct tape on. 

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

DD had a plantar that our dermatologist froze with liquid nitrogen and it fell off after a while.  Derm recommended duct tape, too, but we had little luck with that.  Also had little luck with the Dr. Scholl's home-freezey stuff.  Not  nearly robust enough.

[Beth S]

We've tried just about everything with our 11yo ds single wart on his finger.

 

We pretty much rotate the treatments, which reduces its size but so far it still grows back.

1) Duct tape

2) Banana peel piece under the duct tape

3) Compound W on a bandaid

4) Freezing OTC treatment

5)  Dermatologist treated it twice with a new topical treatment which is actually a chemotherapy drug.

       We have done this twice.  It has removed the entire wart, but it still hasn't killed the tiny roots that seem to regrow.

6)  Letting him just pick at it.  :)

 

Sorry I can't give you a fool proof solution, but there are quite a few options.

 

[fraidycat]

I couldn't get the duct tape to stick to DS's foot for his plantar wart. Apple cider vinegar on cotton at night got rid of it. It took about a month - maybe 6 weeks?

[Garga]

On a hand--soaked it nightly in apple cider vinegar, duct taped a piece of cotton soaked in apple cider vinegar over the wart. Worked in a month or so, but was a pain. The duct tape kept falling off from sweat.

 

Next round of warts, used tea tree oil. You can get a little bottle at walmart. Used a cotton swab to apply the oil on the wart twice a day. Took about a month as well, but was much less of a hassle.

 

Either way you have to be diligent.

 

ETA: online it said don't use the tea tree oil on kids, but i did anyway. No idea why they say don't use on kids. Maybe they mean tiny children who can't tell you if it is irritating their skin? Dunno.

[Garga]

Oh, and the freezing and bettle juice used by the dermatologist was a joke. Hundreds of dollars, weeks of pain and huge blisters (from the beetle juice) all to no effect, but the duct tape and $6 bottle of tea tree oil worked like a charm. Sometimes i just hate doctors. They use a hammer when a feather would do the job.

[MrsBasil]

I did apple cider vinegar as well and, for me, it worked in about 2.5 weeks.  This was about a week ago, so no idea about it coming back.  :)

[Dory]

When I was a kid my mom would file it down until she was to the root and then have me put it in front of a little air heater to dry it out really good. Then she would put tea tree oil on it and tape it up for the night. It was a nightly occurance but they were gone in a week and never came back. I had warts on my feet twice as a kid. Both times I picked them up at swimming lessons and both times they were gone in a week. Hurt like crazy, but at least I never had to deal with them again. Out of the seven kids in my family, 5 of us went through the same thing with warts and had pretty much the same success.

[kiwik]

On a hand--soaked it nightly in apple cider vinegar, duct taped a piece of cotton soaked in apple cider vinegar over the wart. Worked in a month or so, but was a pain. The duct tape kept falling off from sweat.

 

Next round of warts, used tea tree oil. You can get a little bottle at walmart. Used a cotton swab to apply the oil on the wart twice a day. Took about a month as well, but was much less of a hassle.

 

Either way you have to be diligent.

 

ETA: online it said don't use the tea tree oil on kids, but i did anyway. No idea why they say don't use on kids. Maybe they mean tiny children who can't tell you if it is irritating their skin? Dunno.

I think it is also to do with developing sensitivity to it - I read somewhere that allergists here were finding sensitivity to teatree oil more and more common and they put it down to greater exposure through topical use.

[Zebra]

We tried everything with warts and finally tea tree oil worked.   DH also had some success with some sort of treatment that looked like a tube of chapstick.  You applied the "chapstick" and then covered it with a bandaid twice a day.   We found it somewhere like CVS.   I think the real issue with warts is to be diligent and reapply whatever treatment you are using regularly, and keep the wart(s) covered.  I know I had to do the tea tree oil treatment for like 6 weeks, twice a day.   It was tedious, but it worked.

 

Although sometimes I think warts are just going to go away when they feel like going away and there is nothing you can do about it :lol: !

[elfgivas]

we've been experimenting with this for a few years now :(.

what works fastest for our family is compound W under duct tape.  we wrap the duct tape right around the foot.  we let the dc choose the duct tape pattern they want.  we have peace sign duct tape, daisy duct tape, orange and black duct tape for halloween, green and red duct tape for christmas.....

 

we haven't had any in more than a year now, so i am irrationally hopeful.  however we plan on results in weeks, not days or months.

 

fwiw,

ann

[Alice]

You can also use crushed up aspirin instead of Compound W. It’s basically the same ingredient and it’s cheaper. It helps to mix the aspirin with a bit of water to make a paste, just to make it easier and then cover with duct tape. And it helps to soak the wart and then file it a little, if it’s hurting stop, it’s just to get any dead skin off before putting on the medicine of choice. 

[LucyStoner]

Duct tape didn't help my son's wart at all. We tried everything. The only thing that got rid of it was a prescription topical treatment.